I get the strong impression that folks in Europe spend a whole lot more time studing WWI than we do.
I get that impression as well. Actually, I seem to remember reading that at some schools in the UK they spend a semester on the years 1914-1939, or something like that.
Doubtless this is the result of the fact that we did not so much ride in with the cavalry, having been pulled into the war kicking and screaming, and save everyone's arse like we like to think we did with WWII.
Indeed, indeed. I do remember studying the buildup quite a bit in my AP European History class, and I'm sure it was treated in my Modern France class in college, but we spent more time on WWII. I do feel like it might have been profitable in at least the AP class to look at Modernism as a reaction to the war, because that's where it's easy to really get them impact it had.
I doubt it, both because you say you feel the late 1800s are less distant these two decades (not surprising--Civil War and its aftermath means you spend more time there in history class), and because I'd say that period feels just as remote to me now as it did when I was in school 20+ years ago.
I was thinking it might be that. (Although the 1800s are still distant, just in a different way, if that makes sense. The impossibility of understanding them is so stark that somehow those pieces that do ring bells seem that much closer. I was trying to articulate that in the post, but may have missed the mark.)
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timeasmymeasure
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Date: 2009-11-12 02:11 pm (UTC)I get that impression as well. Actually, I seem to remember reading that at some schools in the UK they spend a semester on the years 1914-1939, or something like that.
Doubtless this is the result of the fact that we did not so much ride in with the cavalry, having been pulled into the war kicking and screaming, and save everyone's arse like we like to think we did with WWII.
Indeed, indeed. I do remember studying the buildup quite a bit in my AP European History class, and I'm sure it was treated in my Modern France class in college, but we spent more time on WWII. I do feel like it might have been profitable in at least the AP class to look at Modernism as a reaction to the war, because that's where it's easy to really get them impact it had.
I doubt it, both because you say you feel the late 1800s are less distant these two decades (not surprising--Civil War and its aftermath means you spend more time there in history class), and because I'd say that period feels just as remote to me now as it did when I was in school 20+ years ago.
I was thinking it might be that. (Although the 1800s are still distant, just in a different way, if that makes sense. The impossibility of understanding them is so stark that somehow those pieces that do ring bells seem that much closer. I was trying to articulate that in the post, but may have missed the mark.)